515 Comments

It’s unfortunate it took so long for this team to acquire some real toughness. There were opportunities last summer. We had a good team, not great, but certainly capable.
Gio is hurt, Cammy is gone, and Gomez can’t play the game anymore. I believe the game has passed him by. But I digress. I was shouting from the rooftops last year that it was dispictable how many times our small skilled forwards were being beaten down by thugs, with no recourse. None. It’s managements job to protect it’s assets. Your assets are your best players, and you have to have a minimum of three guys on your team that can protect. Anyone who thinks otherwise just doesn’t know hockey.
When I say protect, these players were available, and they can play. I don’t mean the type of player who sits for 58 minutes. I mean the type of guy like Blunden, like Staubitz I suppose, even though I haven’t seen enough of him to say if he can play or not.
Ryan White is one of my favorites, but he’s a middleweight. If he’s asked to go up against the heavyweights, he simply won’t last, and that my friends would be a shame.
PG needs to answer for not protecting the teams assets. Gio, Cammy, Pleks, they’re not going to go to management and ask why they were brought in here, to play on the only team in the league who had zero toughness. Moen was great, maybe we’ll re-sign him, but he’s one guy, and he’s tooooo nice.
Having a fourth line consisting of Darche and Weber, or Darche and Palushaj, is an example of how a team is NOT managed properly.
We’ve had no spark from a fourth line in four years. Just because BGL was a disaster, and he turned out to be a politician on the ice, didn’t mean we couldn’t fix the problem.
Anyhow, maybe now he realises it, problem is, it came tooo late. Too late for someone who is suppose the run the franchise. Too late for someone who doesn’t speak to his players, fans, or the media.
I don’t want big mouth Burke here, but the fact that PG tried to put together a team that had no chance of protecting it’s assets, in this day and age, is simply brutal.

Looking at the Habs’ current roster is pretty depressing. There is now hardly anyone who is an established goal scorer. There is Cole, Pacioretty, Desharnais, Bourque (who is streaky), Plekanec (who is having a bad year and now has no scoring linemates on his wing) and… Gomez who used to be productive in the past. Lars Eller is an up and coming talent, hasn’t reached 20 goals in a season yet.

Rounding that group out is Ryan White, Aaron Palushaj who should be scoring some points, but has 1 assist total, Brad Staubitz who has zero points, and Blake Geoffrion. That’s not counting Travis Moen and Mathieu Darche who are out, Petteri Nokelainen and Mike Blunden. Geoffrion and Palushaj should be in Hamilton, and we only need one 4th line, not 2. The 4th line should be Darche, White and Staubitz while Moen should be on the third line once the two are healthy.

Missing Brian Gionta is hurting this team more than people have been discussing. He contributes to the goal total in a significant way each year.

I saw Daigle mentioned below and, not knowing if it applied to him, wondered how many prospects never developed, not because they just “didn’t have”it” ” but because of things like head injuries. I also have trouble comprehending howe the player that hurt Crosby is still walking without crutches.

To be honest, I always felt like Daigle got a bad rap. His rookie season was solid, if unspectacular (20 goals and 51 points in 80 games).

His 2nd season was good…16 goals and 37 points in 47 games (lockout season).

The wheels fell of in his third season (5 goals and 17 points in 50 games), but he rebounded in his fourth season (26 goals and 51 points in 80 games).

But by that point, he had been labelled a bust. If he hadn’t been such a scoring star in junior and hadn’t been chosen 1st overall, he would have been perceived as a decent 2nd line player.

But that was not his lot, and he was doomed to be be perceived as an eternal failure. For context, Daigle had 176 points in his first 263 games during his first four seasons in the NHL. Contrast that with Henrik Sedin, who posted 146 points in his first 318 games. They played in different offensive eras, so Sedin’s numbers are probably slightly better. Nonetheless, Sedin was allowed to continue to develop while Daigle was ostracized and lost his passion for the game.

Seems like most people here would prefer we don’t beat the Wild. Or any other team this year. Guess I agree it’s better to finish 29th than 22nd, but I’d appreciate Columbus going on a 10 game winning streak right now. Doesn’t really leave much to talk about here, though.

Here’s a question for discussion: “Are the owners of this team cheap?”
1) why didn’t they put Markov on LTIR back in the fall when he went back to the OR?
2) why did they put up with Gomez all year?
The team could have generated another 12m in cap space if they wanted to at least try bringing in a REAL top 4 dman and a REAL top 6 forward.

Whatever you think the proof will be what they do with these players next season. What happens to Gomez and what do they do with Markov if he still can’t play?

1) They weren’t allowed to put Markov on LTIR after having given him a new contract while injured.

2) It is stupid(my opinion) to pay a person $8 million to play in Hamilton.

There is a high likelihood that there will be another unconditional buyout period for each NHL team under the pending renegotiated CBA and Markov is very likely being kept on the shelf until next season quite deliberately due to the Habs’ place in the standings.

I’d rather Blunden over Staubitz. I watch a lot of wild games and while he plays his role well, he’s essentially invisible when not fighting. Moen-White-Blunden/Darche would be a more effective line overall.

@ Sholi
Youre welcome for the laugh…Seriously, since I been on this forum, Ive seen mostly every move by Gainey and Gauthier be heralded as great moves by you masses, and yet the team is last and has been generally weak in character for even longer, so yeah when everyone on here thinks what I say is stupid, I always keep that in mind. Plus listening to you rave like a woman about Price, I know you wouldnt trade him for anything ^_^

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.

LOL, I have seen perhaps two of their moves as being received with unanimous good feelings. In fact, mostly every move is split 50-50 on here (see Price vs. Halak) unless universally panned by the contributors.

i wonder if staubitz will fight tonight against his old teammates..
hope the habs keep him next year because we need a player like that. to bad we dont play the bruins anymore this season, would love to see staubitz drop the gloves with bruin

Same thing happening in Toronto now (fire Wilson, fire Burke) that’s been happening here all year. Only in English. When you look at their “accomplishments” Burke and Wilson made Ghost and Martin look like Bowman and Blake. We may suck, but they still suck more.

Rick Nash could turn into the next Oli Jokinen/Jay Boumeester could he not? Elite level talent in a market that doesnt succeed, and when they are traded to a hockey hotbeat(s) they fade or dont live up to expectations…

I like many things about Andrei Markov, but I love the decision he made in becoming a Canadian citizen. I venture to guess that had he been with the Leafies for the same tenure, he may not have chosen to do so. I take pride that he saw much goodness in this country as seen through the viewpoints of being in culture-rich Montreal, hockey-mad Canada, and hockey-madder Kingdom of Montreal Canadiens. You know, his man-of-few words personna reminds me a lot of Le Gros Bill (sincere prayers). Hoping against hope his knee heals, but sadly Bobby Orr (the only Bruin I could ever stand) comes to mind.

I had a detailed conversation with a member of the Jets organization last weekend at a local fundraiser and here was his insights regarding our Montreal Canadiens:
– he said many NHL teams would be estatic to have th eyoung core the habs have
– Mentioned that many around the NHL are puzzled by some of the moves the habs have made this year(would not mention what)
– He said that it takes a special type of player to excel in Montreal and that Price is one of the few around who can be the leader.
– Expected CUnneyworth would be elsewhere next season.
– ALso mentioned that nothing good can develop by having a player like GOmez stay around the team. Compared it to the Laraque situation.

It’s good to know that we’re not crazy, that other observers around the league see this too. So we’re headed in the right direction here at HIO by playing the youngsters and sending Mr. Gomez to the minors. Now if only we were running the team….

What’s all that crazytalk in Stubbs’ article about a tough guy adding cohesion and camaraderie to a line up, about it making the whole team tougher and potentially averting “certain actions on the ice”., What the hell does Cunneyworth know? Doesn’t he read the comments in HIO?

Funny. I’m hearing a lot of noise from posters on this site about trading DD. He’s the only guy on this team this year who has surpassed expectations. Is that how you guys really want to build a winning culture? By saying “if you play REALLY REALLY well we’ll package you up and trade you out of town”?

DD is doing well, and many would say he is exceeding expectations, he’s having a great year. (sell high)
I like DD, and honestly, I’d rather they keep DD/Plek/Eller, but if if came down to it, I think replacing DD hurts the team less than replacing either of Eller or Plekanec.
I think it would be better if the Habs could secure another top 3 winger, instead of chasing the mythical #1Center with size.

You know what. If you look at DD he’s surpassed expectations like this at every level. Also his production seems to peak in his 3rd year at every level. I’m pretty sure we can expect 65+ pts from him in his 3rd year with the habs (this being his second and aiming for 55pts). He’s just a machine and he doesn’t let people’s expectations slow him down. We finally found our own Martin St. Louis and he should be a hab for life.

I would not be so quick to say he is comparable to St-Louis, let him put up similar numbers before.
What he already achieved is pretty great, and as I said up, I’d rather the team pursue another top 3 winger, than move a center.
I’m quite happy having Plek/Eller/DD down the middle, the issue is making sure the centers have good wingers.

Ok fair enough. But St-Louis didn’t have as strong a second season as DD. Also DD is signed for another year at 850K which is unheard of for a number 1 or 2 center. If we’re really gonna trade him, let’s wait a year to when he’ll command 5 million. Finally, could you imagine how upset Calgary must be that they let St-Louis go in the first place?

I would argue Cole also surpassed expectations. Personally, I would rather use Pleks to get a true #1 centre and let DD and Eller fight for 2nd line C duties. All due respect to Pleks, he’s got a higher trade value and much higher cap hit…

Could not agree more on DD, he’s MSL-in-training and we need to lock him in long term asap. It’s unfortunate he’s so small considering our overall lack of size, but size can be added to a roster easier than DD talent.

I’d be really amazed if he doesn’t break 50pts next year… There’s no downside to keeping him in the fold. Look at what Brad Richards commanded as a UFA and look at his point production next to DD. There’s no contest…

If Gomez is still a Hab when the puck drops fpr the 1st regular season game of 2012-13, I’m going to cancel my Centre Ice subscription and TSNHD for the year.
I love the Habs but I hate watching them with him in the line up. It’s sad really. I can think of 8 illion reasons not to dress him next year or therest of this year. Sen him to the AHL and see if he can help at that level. My guess is he wouldn’t and that would be all the reason needed to sever all ties with him.
No way the team takes the management seriously as long a Gomez is in the locker room.

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“It just goes to show how difficult predictions are, especially ones made about the future.”